Ridecamp: [RC] Critical Thinking/The six rules of evidential reasoning /was pet communicators

> You have nothing to lose except a little bit
> of money.
>
> Karla


Hmm..  That would be the key wouldn't it?  Nothing to lose but money indeed! 
 Pay someone $90 to sit on a phone in their home, gleefully balancing their 
now-bulging checkbooks, pretending to channel/commune with/feel the vibes of 
my lost cat/horse/dog/parrot?  This is why "psychics" drive nice cars and I 
drive a near-junker.  If I was just a bit less honest and able to keep a 
straight face while telling hilarious lies...

What's up with critical thinking?  Pet communicators?  I mourn the loss of 
reason in America today...  As a refresher of what we should have learned in 
high school, here is a quick guide to critical thinking:

The Six Rules of Evidential Reasoning (admittedly stolen from somehwere, but 
I can't find from where it was stolen)

1)  Falsifiability:  It must be possible to conceive of evidence that would 
prove the claim false.
2)  Logic:  Any argument offered as evidence in support of any claim must be 
sound.
3)  Comprehensiveness:  The evidence offered in support of any claim must be 
exhaustive -- that is all of the available evidence must be considered.
4)  Honesty:  The evidence offered in support of any claim must be evaluated 
without self-deception.
5)  Replicability:  If the evidence for any claim is based upon an 
experimental result, or if the evidence offered in support of any claim 
could logically be explained as coincidental, then it is necessary for the 
evidence to be repeated in subsequent experiments or trials.
6)  Sufficiency:  The evidence offered in support of any claim must be 
adequate to establish the truth of that claim, with these stipulations: the 
burden of proof for any claim rests on the claimant, extraordinary claims 
demand extraordinary evidence, and evidence based upon authority and/or 
testimony is always inadequate for any paranormal claim.

The evidence for belief in pet communicators cannot, has not, (and IMO, will 
never, pass these tests...  $90 better spent on bridle id tags and 
microchipping.

-Tamara, (who actually does waste a tiny bit of time worrying about the fact 
that a a wire service report telling of a psychic who located a cat lost in 
an airplane baggage compartment is actually considered "news" and goes 
unchallenged by either the reporters of said story or the readers/believers)

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